Astronomers View Star Formation in the Central Molecular Zone
Stars form from the gas and dust in molecular clouds via a series of complex processes that are currently only partly understood, and the evolution…
Spitzer Space Telescope
Astronomers Discover Brown Dwarf Binary Star with Microlensing
Brown dwarfs are stars less massive than the sun and unable to burn hydrogen. They comprise (at least in mass) a bridge between planets and…
Spitzer Images Show Galaxies on the Cusp of Cosmic Collisions
Three images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope show pairs of galaxies on the cusp of cosmic consolidations. Though the galaxies appear separate now, gravity is…
Spitzer Reveals That Silica is Formed When Massive Stars Explode
We are all, quite literally, made of star dust. Many of the chemicals that compose our planet and our bodies were formed directly by stars….
Spitzer Views Newborn Stars Blowing Bubbles in the Cat’s Paw Nebula
This image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Cat’s Paw Nebula, so named for the large, round features that create the impression of a…
Chandra Detects Diskless Young Stars in Serpens South Cluster
Stars frequently form in crowded environments. By combining the resources of multi-wavelength missions like Chandra in the X-ray and Spitzer in the infrared, astronomers are…
The 15 Greatest Discoveries From NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has spent 15 years in space. In honor of this anniversary, 15 of Spitzer’s greatest discoveries are featured in a gallery….
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Still Going Strong After 15 Years
Initially scheduled for a minimum 2.5-year primary mission, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has gone far beyond its expected lifetime — and is still going strong…
Spitzer Observations of Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817
GW170817 is the name given to a gravitational wave signal seen by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 17 August 2017. Lasting for about 100…
Supernova Remnant HBH 3 -The Fading Ghost of a Long-Dead Star
Thin, red veins of energized gas mark the location of one of the larger supernova remnants in the Milky Way galaxy in this image from…
Spitzer Space Telescope Views the Explosive Merger of Two Neutron Stars
Launched nearly 15 years ago on August 25, 2003, the Spitzer Space Telescope is the final mission in NASA’s Great Observatories Program – a family…
Astronomers Directly Image a Black Hole Ripping Apart a Star
For the first time, astronomers have directly imaged the formation and expansion of a fast-moving jet of material ejected when the powerful gravity of a…
Astronomers Peer Deeper and Farther Into the Cosmos in Search of AGN
The nuclei of most galaxies host supermassive black holes with millions or even billions of solar-masses of material. Material in the vicinity of such black…
Scientists Discover a Large Amount of Water in an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere
Much like detectives study fingerprints to identify the culprit, scientists used NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes to find the “fingerprints” of water in the…
Spitzer and Kepler Provide New Clues About TRAPPIST-1 Planet Compositions
In the year since NASA announced the seven Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, scientists have been working hard to better understand these enticing worlds…
Observations of Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe Reveal Rare Dark-Matter Haloes
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10-meter-diameter telescope in the Antarctic that has been operating at millimeter- and submillimeter-waves for a decade; the CfA…
These Interacting Galaxies Resemble a Penguin Guarding an Egg
Data from NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have been combined to show this image of distant interacting galaxies in light that spans the visible…
Astronomers Observe Microlensing Event from K2, Spitzer, and Earth
The path of a light beam will be bent by the presence of mass, an effect explained by General Relativity, and a massive body can…